Where to Hunt Free-Range Armenian Mouflon and Red Sheep In Texas

Published: January - 2012

If you want to hunt free-range red sheep or Armenian mouflon, but aren't ready to commit to a hunt in Central Asia, there's a place you can do it in Texas. We have just received our sixth positive report on Rowdy McBride Hunting Services (432-553-4724; rowdymcbride@sbcglobal.net) and his hunt for free-range Armenian mouflon and red sheep on the 111-square-mile Williams Ranch in West Texas. The positive reports began back in 1999 with Lou Rupp (see Report 1586) and continued with Scott M. Ackleson in 2001 (2532), Ed Yates in 2002 (3085), and Joseph A Susi in 2006 (5195). Hunting Report Editor Barbara Crown detailed the ranch in a 2007 article (Article 1802).

McBride, who hunted the border of Iran and Turkmenistan years ago, tells us this Texas property matches that area almost exactly. The ranch is located in the Davis Mountains, which rise to an elevation of over 8,000 feet, with wide, open ridges dotted with sparse vegetation and lower valleys full of limber pine and oak. Since their release on the ranch, both species have multiplied greatly. McBride says, "There's probably three hundred and change of each species. They're pretty nomadic, so it's hard to get an accurate count." The ranch also harbors more than 400 aoudad that came from a small herd introduced by the State of Texas in the 1950s.

Our latest report on the hunting here comes from subscriber Rich Papapietro, who took a mature Armenian mouflon with McBride in March. Time constraints kept Papapietro from taking a red sheep, but he is trying his luck for that trophy and for free-range aoudad as of this writing.

Papapietro says hunters go out at sunrise to drive the ranch in a 4WD vehicle looking for game. Once sheep are spotted, they are approached on foot. Papapietro warns, "This is truly a wild sheep hunt, not a gimmee' hunt. You have to work hard to get to the animals." McBride agrees and cautions hunters to prepare for fast and distant shots. "Reds and mouflon are spooky little guys, under a hundred........(continued)